Pallikaranai - birds come inspite of the degradation!

The Hindu : Young World : Coming home to the wetlands Pelican points

ROHINI RAMAKRISHNAN
It’s celebration time at the Pallikaranai Marsh as the pelicans have returned. In the past two years the number of sightings has increased and this augurs well for the birds.

The early morning mist slowly melts as the sun rises across the Pallikaranai Marsh. The sparse water body, the tall reed become visible. And yes, there is something new to be seen — large swan-like birds swim gracefully on the waters. I crane my neck a little more and half rise from my seat in the rickety bus that plies on the east Tambaram route. Now there’s no doubt about it, it was them — the pelicans are back, visiting the wetlands of Pallikaranai.

Talking to the birdman, Theodore Baskaran, I discovered that for the past two years there were plenty of sightings of the pelican in and around the water bodies of Chennai and this augured well for the birds, especially as they are on the Endangered List. It is no longer a rare sight to see pelicans and this would mean they have multiplied n numbers.

Fresh pastures
As Mr. Thirunaranan of Nature Trust pointed out, the arrival of these birds could mean that they were the overspill from bird sanctuaries like Vedanthangal and it is their move to “fresh pastures”. Some were local migrants, coming from Gujarat and other areas.

But Baskaran said while examining a dead pelican they found a ring with a number round its neck. Analysing it they found that the pelican had flown in from Kazakhstan.

Wetlands anywhere bear the greatest of pressure from the land hungry population, says Baskaran. As the city expands, there is need for more land and the first to disappear are the lakes.

If you look around the city, you will see that lake areas now are merely names, eg., Lake View in Nungambakkam (near Valluvar Kottam). Wetlands are also victims of globalisation as due to this the city expands drastically.

Wetlands are special and therefore need to be protected and conserved, as many long-legged birds and waders, amphibians, plants and insects depend on it for their survival.

Strict rules observed at places like the Pallikaranai Marsh by the Forest Department could contribute to the frequency of the winged visitors which enriches our own life by their sheer presence.

Pelican points

A pelican is large water bird with a distinctive pouch under the beak. They swim with short legs that are extremely strong and their four toes are webbed. When they rub the back of their heads their preen glands secrete an oily substance which waterproofs the plumage.

Diet: Fish, amphibians, crustaceans and at times small birds.

Watch them : They often catch fish by expanding the throat pouch. First they must drain the pouch above the surface before they can swallow. It takes a minute to do this and often during this time other water birds steal the fish. Pelicans too pirate from other birds.

Unique technique: Group fishing is done too. They form a line to chase schools of small fish into shallow water, and then simply scoop them up. Large fish are caught with the bill-tip, and then tossed up in the air to be caught and gobbled head first.

Forum to protect Adyar Poonga planned

The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Forum to protect Adyar Poonga planned

CHENNAI: ‘Friends of the Adyar Poonga,’ a forum for preservation of the eco park, is slated to be launched next month. The Adyar Eco Park is being developed on 58 acres by the Pitchandikulam Forest Consultants. The consultants hope to encourage people from all walks of life to take an interest in it by joining the forum. On Monday, a group of school and college students took out a rally for awareness on the need to protect the ecosystem in the park.

Students of Rajah Muthiah and Rani Meyyammai schools, Nadukuppam Government Higher Secondary School and Stella Maris College participated in the rally. Students of Stella Maris have volunteered to help with the planting of saplings in the park. They walked along the boundaries of the park. Students of Nadukuppam Government School used folk music to tell people to stop dumping garbage in the park.

J.T. Rex Vaz, coordinator of Pitchandikulam Forest Consultants, said the people living in apartments sometimes dump household waste from their balconies into the park. “We have regular meetings requesting them not to do so,” he said.

To become a friend of the Adyar Poonga, send an e-mail to adyarpoonga.pfc@ gmail.com.

I did email them, and was informed that there will be a meeting of the volunteers on 2nd October between 2 and 3 pm at the Adyar Poonga

Animals of IITM - there's a book now

All pictures from Bhanu, who led a nature walk in IIT, for MNS last month
The article below was seen in The Hindu.

P. Oppili

CHENNAI: As part of its golden jubilee celebrations, the IIT–Madras has brought out a second publication, animals of IIT–Madras.

The book was released recently by Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Science and Technology. It presents the most common animals on the IIT-M campus, which incidentally is one of the last refuges for native biodiversity in South Chennai. The 150 species described in the book cover the following groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes and select number of invertebrates. The description includes details such as the common and scientific names of the organisms, short notes on morphological features, pointers that facilitate easy identification and their distribution and status within the campus.

Conservation planning programme
The book was part of an overall conservation planning programme undertaken by IIT-M in the recent years.

In view of the fact that conservation within the campus had to be a necessary factor in the continuous presence of a significant number of human beings, the book would contribute to the formation of a well-informed pool of stakeholders, said a spokesperson of Care Earth, a biodiversity research organisation.

A team of dedicated ecologists and biologists assessed the extent and quality of the critical habitats that supported the biodiversity on the campus and the pocket guide was prepared by Care Earth.

Little Grebe, Indian pond heron, Asian Openbill stork, cattle egret, grey francolin, black kite, shikra, white-breasted waterhen, purple moorhen, redwattled lapwing, chestnut-winged cuckoo are some of the birds one could spot at the campus. Reptiles such as Indian cobra, chequered keelback, bronzeback tree snake, common vine snake, star tortoise and animals such as Golden jackal, common palm civet, could be sighted at the campus.

A great place to go birding, I had written about it in Tracking the Indian Pitta at IIT

Here are some pictures from the IIT Walk.

Bhanu, by the way is rather multi-faceted. Read about her puppetry initiatives here.

Now to find myself a copy of the book

Snakes on my mind

My in-laws had an unwelcome visitor this week, in the form of a huge snake, coiled up on the cool bathroom floor! It slithered past the housekeeper as she went to clean up, she let out a shriek loud enough to summon the whole neighbourhood, and fled from there, slamming the bathroom shut behind her!

My mother-in-law, with remarkable alacrity rang up Just Dial (an information service - +91-44-2644 4444), got the number of the Guindy Snake Park from them, called the ranger there, (+(91)-(44)-22200335,22301328) who promised to send a snake catcher. Within half an hour, the catcher arrived, and from all accounts knew his snake-catching! He calmly proceeded to the bathroom, by which time the snake had disappeared under the wash basin drainhole, and was nowhere to be seen. He checked regarding the drain plan, asked for hot water to be poured down the drain, and then waited at the other end, in the garden.

Sure enough, in a minute the snake emerged, and was skillfully caught by the trapper. My in-laws commented that he kind of stroked the snake to calm it, and then put it into a bag, to be added to the collection at the Snake Park! He told them that it was a venomous snake, but we dont know the variety - it was not a cobra. It couldn't be the Krait, since the markings are so distinct, could it be a viper then?

After this incident, I realised that I knew so little about snakes - which ones are venomous, and which ones are not. Yes, I've been to the Snake Park and yes I possess Whitaker's book, and yes I've studied those glass cages and looked with somewhat horrified fascinaton at those slithery reptiles, but it somehow does not stick in the head. I dont find them as attractive as, say birds, nor are they as "handsone" as a tiger, as graceful as deer.

I think there are snake people and there are the others, and I dont know if it has to do with any exposure or awareness. My mother is positively fascinated by them, so is a cousin of mine who now lives in Atlanta, then there is a classmate of my husband who regularly caught them. I am not a snake person, and I have to make a conscious, rational effort to overcome the rising, irrational fear of them.

Of snakes and Scruggs, in Atlanta, Georgia

We saw this snake sunning itself in the undergrowth in one of those large parks near the Fernbank Museum. What was it - Midland brown? Earth snake?


Another day we stopped by at the Chattahoochee river that flows through Atlanta, and saw these ducks swim by,


before chancing upon a Steve Scruggs show. Steve Scruggs seems to be the American equivalent of our very own Rom Whitakers spreading awareness about snakes.

Quite the showman, check out these two little video clips of what we saw.

This one is to do with a common Georgian, non-poisonous snake.



And this one shows a rattlesnake.



Stone Mountain

Atlanta memories also include our trip to Stone Mountain, though totally unrelated to snakes, bear with me while I ramble!  After all this is Madras Ramblings remember.

Stone Mountain is very unimaginatively named.  It is, well a stone mountain you see.  I guess if we can have yezhu malai and anai malai, they can have Stone Mountain!  if I'm not mistaken its the world's largest exposed granite rock.  (Ayers rock in Australia is sandstone.)  

Can you imagine what a sense of regret our granite quarry owners must feel seeing this - so much untapped money!

We took the cable ride up, but you can walk up as well.  The views all around are lovely.  About 3,000 acres around the rock is like a nature park, so its lovely and wooded.  there are lots of touristy and kid-friendly activities all over the base park area, but you dont need to do those things.

A walk up, enjoying the views, some birdwatching, and its a lovely day out in the open.

If you are lucky, you may come across these stoneworts, which grow in the little pools of water that collect in depressions and crevices on the mountain top.

Bridge for endangered monkeys

Times of India, 19th Sep '08

B Aravind Kumar | TNN

Chennai: The state forest department has come up with a simple solution to reduce the number of lion-tailed macaque dying along the road leading to Valparai, a hill station in Coimbatore district — bamboo bridges connecting the treetops on both sides of the road to facilitate easy and safe movement of the endangered species.
The lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) lives only in the Western Ghats, and derives the name from its lion-like mane and tail. “Puduthottam, a patch of rainforest located a couple of kilometres ahead of Valparai town, is home to about 150 lion-tailed macaques. There is a large group and many smaller groups,’’ says Dr H Basavaraju, field director, Anaimalai Tiger Reserve.
In the Indira Gandhi wildlife sanctuary, 520 lion-tailed macaques were spotted during the census in February 2008. Valparai range had 225. Apart from Puduthottam, small groups were seen in Kurangumudi and Thonimudi.
An arboreal species, the lion-tailed macaque leaves the safety of trees only to search for food on the forest floor. From Puduthottam, the monkeys have to cross the main road for food. Four adult monkeys were killed by speeding vehicles on the road in the past two months, says the field director.
Authorities in the Indira Gandhi wildlife sanctuary discussed the issue as the lion-tailed macaque is one of the most endangered primates whose habitat is fractured. A report was sent to chief wildlife warden A Sundararaju who instructed building of bridges across the road.
“It did not cost us a single rupee. There was plenty of broken bamboo left by herds of wild elephants in Valparai. We strung the bamboo together and built five bridges,” says Valparai forest ranger Manickam. “The bridges were built three days ago. A few monkeys have started using them,’’ the ranger says. Forest department personnel are monitoring the movement of the lion-tailed macaques to make modifications and improvements.

Good luck to the macaques!  My only in-the-wild sighting, so far, of these impressive monkey was way back in 1994, in the Periyar reserve.  We were on a walk in the forest, when we saw this macaque on a tree above us.  I dont think we had binoculars with us, but he was close enough for us to see his handsome head.  Look at the length of his tail! 


...That was a memorable trip...maybe I should write about the elephants gambolling on the wet hillside, Mr Balakrishnan at The Lake Palace, and being cold and wet in the rain with a bunch of laughing schoolkids for company, and a husband somewhat bemused at his hysterically giggly wife?!

One day I shall.

Sparrow Suprabhatam

And mynahs, actually. I guess because our road has become more wooded and the road trees have gotten big, there is a regular bird "orchestra" in the mornings.

About four or five years ago, it was only the crows that woud caw us awake. In the last one year, though, its become like a jazz band - mynahs, sparrow, parakeet, the occasional kingfisher and of course the ubiquitous crows and pigeons. As they all chirpily go about their early morning activities, it has become our morning "suprabhatam", our pranaams to nature, and more mundanely our morning wake-up alarm!

Some mornings though there is a mynah which tries out its various calls (at 5am!), sitting on our window sill. The calls go from clucks to cheeps to tuk tuks and everything in-between. Those mornings, I have to admit that I put the pillow over my head, mumbling to the mynah to take its cheerfulness elsewhere.... You know, one of these mornings, I hope to be a better and more dedicated birder than I am, spring out of bed and record that mynah!

Until that day arrives, I shall satisfy myself with this little clip of our sweet sparrow friend. Unlike the mynah, this sparrow wakes you up gently and sweetly. He also revisits through the morning, swinging on the TV cable wire outside my window.

Take a look at the clip - the first five seconds is blurred, but then the camera focuses on the sparrow.

Charlie, though nothing as spectacular as the South African dawn chorus, this one, of Chennai's urban chorus, is for you!



This sparrow has put me in a quandary - to feed or not to feed that is the question that begs an answer.

Bird feeders - good or bad??

Should I not let him (sparrow I mean) be and fend for himself?
Why should I make him dependent upon me by resorting to feeding?
Just because I want to see more of him and other birds? Is that environmentally a good practice?

I trawled the net for some articles on the pros and cons, and surprisingly came up with nothing about the environmental ethics of it. There was a much quoted 2002 article in The Wall Street Journal, about how bird feeders spread disease among birds, which was huffily contested by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology here, and The Hilton Pond Centre here.

But little else.

I'm inclined not to feed, for the moment. I will enjoy his comings and goings, as he pleases. He does not need me, and that suits me fine.

Roadside silhouettes

10,000birds.com had this rather interesting "quiz" running last week.  These bird silhouettes were given, and one had to figure out what they were, without looking up the books.

You can read all about it here.

The pictures are from that site.

Click on the pictures to get a bigger and better view!
So these were my guesses:

1.  Some kind of pigeon/dove

2.  Could it be a sparrow?

7.  Hoopoe

8.  Drongo

9,10, 11 - swallows and swifts of some kind!

23 ... crow??

20.  coucal

28.  some kind of pheasant

13.  robin

... I give up.  Dont know any more!

Try your hand.

They are not necessarily birds found around here, but its still fun to do.

The answers are in the comments

Kanha Memories- Birds, a bear and a scorpion

Picture by ArunPeacocks everywhere!  Going from Madras, these spectacular birds really took my breath away.... for the first three days.

Then, we had seen so many of them, that we all became rather blase,"Oh just a peacock", and they would be dismissed!  Imagine that!

With the occasional rain, Arun was fortunate to even capture one of them dancing and in full show.
Arun's picture
Picture from Chitra




From Arun


Here, one strolled across the road, bringing traffic to a halt!

And Chitra clicked this beautiful picture of the peacock perched on a tree.  It was my first experience with flying peacocks as well.  Yes, they do fly and quite well.  It would make for a spectacular sight, when one would suddenly swoosh up to a tree top.

One sunny morning we found this peacock skulking by the side of the road, with the sun bringing out all the colours of its feathers, even when they were not in display mode.... mmm... would be a lovely colour for a saree, isn't it?  Now I know what the Nalli salesman means by peacock blue!

A changeable hawk eagle - picture from Arun - seen on our first outing, in the canter

A jungle owlet, which resided in a tree, just inside the gate.  We would take a peek at it every day while leaving the park.  This picture is once again from Arun.

Many more than this - plaintive cocukoo, alexandrine parakeets, scimitar babblers, a shama, black-headed oriole, an emerald dove, honey buzzards, vultures and an adjutant stork as well.

An account of our Kanha week will be incomplete without recounting the incident of Arun being locked into the dorm.  The culprit was my husband, who finding the room empty, (Arun had gone to the loo at the back, but which could be exited only via the room), locked it, pocketed the key and we all set off in our jeep, blissfully unaware of the locked Arun.

That was the day we were going off to Bahminidadar, and so went off, and then re-united with the other jeeps up on the plateau.  Chitra came hurrying up to us, and whisperingly (is there such a word?!) enquired whether we were the ones with the key to the dorm.  Very innocently, we said yes.  

It transpired that once we left, the jeep in which Arun was to go waited patiently, but Arun never came.  So they went back to the dorm to hear frantic thumping and yelling, and there was one very angry MNS member.  All the rooms open into the back verandah which houses the bath and toilets, so Arun could come out via the other rooms.  But his camera was in the locked room, and anyone who knows Arun also knows that he wont leave without it!   The netting on a window was ripped and he clambered in and out with his camera.

As a result of all this delay, Arun and his jeep mates saw this sloth bear.  None of us did!  I think that appeased him, and our "thousand apologies" was accepted in good humour!

The last night of our stay, it began to pour once again.  It was post-dinner, and all of us had gathered into our small little groups to look at pictures, gup-shup and generally while away the time.  A group of the men stood in a corner, tasting something from an unidentifiable bottle.  Their conversation got louder and louder, and then suddenly there was a shout!

Vijay came rushing in and said come look there's a scorpion.  So we all hurried to the back verandah and sure enough there was this black, shiny scorpion on the tiled floor, not getting a good hold and so scuttling along near the wall.  Being MNS members, there had to be a prolonged discussion as to what was to be done with it.  No, we cant kill it, lets just push it into the outdoors, no it will return, you know it is very dangerous, but we cant just kill it.... and so it went on and on, until one of the men (I forget who) went and brought the local attendant.  That boy/man just freaked.  I have never seen a look of such terror on anyone's face I tell you.  He rushed out, came back armed with implements to chase it out, and took it out of our sight, where we were quite sure he killed it, though he did not say so.

All my romance with the forest quickly dried up, as the dangers of the jungle were driven home. I can cope with trying to cross a busy junction in T Nagar, board a bus at Central Station or take precautions against chain-sntaching.  I am a city dweller, I have these skills, but what would I do when faced with a scorpion?  I just shrieked and climbed on to the bed!!

And so ended a wonderful week and it was time to go home.  Not before Dhruva went missing one night, and was hunted down in the Bagheera log huts chatting with the cook and not before the food bag was emptied.  

Rannu came back to take us back to Nagpur, and was greeted by one and all like a long lost friend.  But of course we had to have some flat tires along the way, which led to frayed tempers and loud words, through all of which are man from Seoni kept his cool, bought us breakfast at the neighbourhood eatery in Seoni and got us to the station well in time!

Kanha Memories- A photo essay on the forests

Young sal treesEvergreens, they provide the main greenery throughout the year.  The fallen leaves a lovely brown contrast.

Spectacularly large!OK, its not a tree, but a grand enough sight, this anthill made!  I wonder what happens when there is a thunderstorm... does it get washed away?

Wild creeper
Mexican prickly poppy.  We also saw these in Melghat
Mahua, I think...
Sal flowers?
Beautiful isnt it?  Id needed!
Gnarled branches overhead

Wildflowers in the undergrowth

Kanha Memories- Bamhnidadar

Continued from Tiger tales.

Locate to the south-east of the Kisli gate, Bahmnidadar was a relatively long way away, and not everybody wanted to go there. So, some of us, about four jeeps took the ride up, while the others continued with their tiger spotting.

It was a lovely ride, and as we rose up to the plateau, we had peeks of the view down below.


Arun photographed this jungle cat, almost at the top
The plateau!The drive on the tabletop was an experience - on either side almost until the horizon stretched these grasslands, with the trees lining the edges. The grass was close to 6 feet in height and so we had to stand in the jeep to look over, and get a sense of perspective.

Spot the bee-eater
Looking down at the sal forest
From the camp watch tower looking onto the plateau

Kanha Memories - Tiger tales

Continued from The graceful and handsome barasinghas.

How can you go to Kanha, and not come away with a tiger tale - the tiger that got away, the one you missed, the one that crossed your path..... there are more stories than tigers!

We had our share of tiger encounters as well, a few of which were somewhat contrived via the "tiger show" - a Kanha special.  More on that in a little bit.

The one that walked away

Let me rewind to the morning, when we had a glimpse of a tiger as it lazily walked away from us in the early morning light.  Our guide this morning was Jai Singh.  A young, alert and skilled spotter who had an electric air about him.  Somehow, his positive attitude buzzed through our jeep and awoke the five of us from our early morning drowsiness.  Like a deer with twitchy ears, he stood in the front of the jeep, looking left and right and barking terse commands to the driver, on the route to take.

As we drove along one road, the driver of a returning jeep gave us the thumbs down and said there was nothing to see in that path.  Jai Singh nevertheless insisted we go that way, and I was quite happy to just dreamily watch the forest go by and listen to the bird calls and breathe in that crisp, nippy morning air.

Footprints! Or should I call them pawprints?

Immediately we were all alert, but look as hard as I could into the forest, I saw nothing.  Suddenly Jai Singh pointed to the left, and there in the dim light, close to the near edge of that watering hole in the picture below, I had my only tiger-in-the-wild glimpse.  He looked at us briefly, turned around and then lazily sloped away into the forest at the back.  It was all so sudden that by the time we pointed to each other and took our cameras out, all we captured was an empty watering hole!

A tracker on the elephant was keeping a watch on the tiger, tracking it actually, and Jai Singh seemed to feel if it wasn't for the tracker the tiger might have hung around a while longer.  Who knows?  The tiger may have wanted a solitary moment, and so it was not to be.

These trackers are an important part of the whole Kanha -tourist-tiger experience.  
The Kanha tiger show

At Kanha, every morning there are tiger "shows".  The location of these shows are put up on the board located in the central camp that I mentioned in my first Kanha post.  So, at around 9:30 in the morning, the jeep drivers would take you to the central camp, and if you wanted to go and see the tiger at these spots, you would be taken off the road and into the jungle on elephant back, for an additional payment - Rs 100 per head I think.  This "show" was restricted to the tourism zone.

What happens is this.  In the morning, elephant-backed trackers would set off through the jungle in search of tigers.  Once they spotted them, they would follow the tigers to their resting spot.  The reasoning is that once the sun is up around 10, the tigers will take to resting in a nullah, a ditch in the grassland or under some tree.  Once it settled in this manner, the tracker would radio back his location to the HQ, where it would be put up on the board.

When we were there, there was one radio-collared tiger we saw, plus a tigress and its two grown male cubs.  The tigress and cubs were seen even in the wild by some lucky members.  By "in the wild", I mean not through a show but by being at the right place at the right time!

Our first show, was on the first day of our visit, when we were out in our canter ride.  A male tiger was reported to be resting close to a kill.  The Canter (bus) was taken close to the point of the show, and then four at a time, we went off to see the tiger.

Certain rules are strictly followed and enforced.  While near the tiger, no loud conversations or sudden movements.  The mahouts do not disturb the tiger, but just allow you to watch.  If you are lucky, you will see it atleast sit up, like this picture below.  
Chitra's pictures.  She was in the same "batch" that I was!Most often though, this is what you will see.  These tigers in the tourism zone are probably so used to elephant loads coming and going that they couldn't care less.  This particular gentleman was probably also on a full stomach, having partaken of a heavy meal.

This was once a bisonThat evening, there were mixed reactions to the whole tiger show experience.  post-dinner there was much back and forth arguing in the verandah of the dorm, as to whether this was good for the long term health of the park, and what difference was there between a tiger in a zoo and a tiger seen this way?

For me, personally, I resolved not to go on another tiger show.  My prime problem was that first of all, I do not like to ride on an elephant.  It bothers me to use these magnificent creatures of the jungle for such a mundane activity as taking a tourist to see a tiger.  (I have this same problem with riding a horse as well, but that's a different story)

Secondly, I felt that if I did not chance to see a tiger in the normal course of the day, so be it.  I would need to come back again.  That's the whole point of a park is it not?  To see and enjoy nature, naturally.  This was all a bit too contrived.

It doesn't take away from the thrill of seeing a tiger, that I grant you. Just the sheer size of this cat, its powerful paws and the unfriendly, dont-mess-with-me countenance gave me goose bumps and sent shivers down my spine.  But I just feel that we need to give it respect and space and not go and gawk at it in this fashion.  Just think about it.  You are ready to rest for the day, or put your feet up, and then you are surrounded by people looking at you, murmuring knowingly, clicking away with their cameras... enough to drive you into a rage dont you think? (I guess it could be argued that by just visiting the park, I am taking away from the privacy of the tiger and the other forest animals.  So, if I was a conscientious and caring environmentalist, maybe I should not be visiting these parks at all?)

My son did go on one more tiger ride and saw these tigers.
A radio-collared tiger
A tigress with a wound
One of the cubs I think

Mr Ramanan beats the laws of probability

The senior member on the trip was Mr Ramanan, who saw a tiger in the wild almost every day we were there!  It was truly amazing.  As his reputation as a tiger mascot grew, people insisted on riding in his jeep!  And it did help them.  Ananth, one of the members who occasionaly rode in our jeep, decided that he did have to see the tiger before leaving Kanha, and so on the penultimate day hopped into Mr Ramanan's jeep, and presto came back with a good tiger sighting!

This series of pictures are from Mr Ramanan.
Lets see if I can recount the story well.  This was a tigress on the hunt for its two grown male cubs.  Initially, it had its eye on a herd of gaur, but two large males guarded the herd, and the tigress failed to isolate any calf.

It then walked across the road, unmindful of the tourists, and then went into this stalking crouch seen below, its eye on a group of chital in the meadows.
Mr Ramanan recalled that it had got pretty close to the chitals when a camp elephant, after a dip in the watering hole,  came in-between the chitals and the tiger, driving the tiger away.  

A close-up of the tigress, courtesy Mr Ramanan

Sheila's sighting:

On our last evening, my son had had enough of the jeep rides, so he and I did not go for that last ride into the park.  And yes, Murphy's Law did work, and yes they did see a tiger that evening!

It was dusk, the light was poor, but by the side of their jeep, this tiger walked by, and Sheila's hands shook with excitement and blurred this picture!!  I had to put it in though, since I liked the mood and tone of this picture.  

Kanha is arguably at the heart of India's tiger country, the inspiration for Kipling and a crucial cornerstone of the Project Tiger conservation efforts. Yet, in a way, I came away from Kanha mildly depressed and very concerned with the state of the tiger in India.

Just the following week, we read about the missing tigers of Ranthambore.  And then about the Chinese resorting to tiger farms.  

I wish I could sound more optimistic about the tiger and its future.  Will my grandchildren ever see a tiger in the wild?  Does it make a big difference if they don't?  These are not theoretical anymore, they are very real possibilities.

Maybe by taking our son to Kanha, we have given him some appreciation of this predator? Maybe some respect for all creatures big and small?  It certainly heightened my awareness and concern.  Maybe, just maybe then, something has been achieved through those jeep rides into the forest.  Maybe, the tiger show will help to spread this appreciation to more people?

Continued in Bahmnidadar